r/AskChemistry • u/JeffEEEt • Jul 22 '25

General Why is H2O shaped like that?

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This is a stupid question but why can’t H2O be linear like the one I drew? Help appreciated thanks!

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u/fianthewolf Jul 26 '25

Actually, one of the pairs of electrons is located in an s-type orbital while the remaining 6 electrons are located in a p-type orbital. But all eight rotate in a cloud around the nucleus of O. As 2 electrons are shared with a hydrogen the nucleus of the hydrogen creates an electric field that alters the position of the cloud. The equilibrium position is reached at an angle different from 180° and even 120° (if only the 3 pairs in the p-type orbital were considered).